Master Gardeners to offer tips on the care and feeding of conifers

The Master Gardeners of Greater Kansas City will host “Gardening With Conifers in Greater Kansas City” at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 18.

Alan Branhagen, director of horticulture at Powell Gardens, will talk about the gardens’ dwarf conifer collection, which is a certified reference garden by the American Conifer Society. A conifer is a plant that produces cones; its leaves usually are green all year.

The event, at Kauffman Foundation Conference Center, 4801 Rockhill Road, is free and open to the public. No registration is required. For more information, visit mggkc.org or call 816-665-4456.

Also …

Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 Kansas Master Naturalist training program.

Kansas Master Naturalists are K-State Research and Extension volunteers who remove invasive species from public properties, educate youth on Kansas geology, clear vegetation at local wetlands, maintain and collect data on bluebird trails and conduct educational walks on prairie plants and bird identification.

For a $115 administration fee, selected applicants will receive 40 hours of instruction. They also will be required to volunteer 30 hours each year on environmental projects. Past projects have included the development of a Prairie Center nature trail smartphone application.

Training sessions will be 6-9 p.m. each Wednesday, March 23 to May 25.

For more information or to apply, contact Dan Lekie, county Extension director at 913-715-7012, dan.lekie@jocogov.org or visit johnson.ksu.edu and click on the “Volunteers” link. The deadline for applying is Feb. 29.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 3:08 AM with the headline "Master Gardeners to offer tips on the care and feeding of conifers."